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Less than a month before automatic spending cuts are set to trigger, which could mean furloughs for civilian workers, the president says Congress should replace them to avoid major disruptions to economy. Members of Oklahoma's delegation criticized the president.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama urged Congress on Tuesday to postpone or replace “massive” spending cuts set to take effect next month, saying “we can't just cut our way to prosperity.”

“Deep, indiscriminate cuts to things like education and training, energy and national security will cost us jobs, and it will slow down our recovery,” the president told reporters at the White House.

“It's not the right thing to do for the economy; it's not the right thing for folks who are out there still looking for work.”

Obama offered no new proposals to avert the cuts — which will hit most federal departments, with the military bearing about half of the total — but said Congress should replace them with a combination of spending cuts and new revenue through reform of the tax code.

The president said proposals he already has made are still on the table. White House spokesman Jay Carney on Tuesday mentioned eliminating tax breaks for oil and gas companies and capping the amount of deductions that wealthier taxpayers can claim.

Part of the debt ceiling deal of 2011, the cuts total more than $1 trillion over 10 years. Entitlement programs are mostly exempt, meaning the cuts would be spread out over defense, homeland security, education and other government departments. The cuts were supposed to go into effect in January but were delayed for two months as part of the “fiscal cliff” deal.

The president said Congress might not have time to enact a package that includes tax reform and spending cuts before March 1 and should pass a smaller package to delay the sequester “for a few months.”

An analysis prepared last week for Sen. Jim Inhofe, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned that the cuts could lead to thousands of civilian workers being furloughed at Oklahoma's military bases and training sharply curtailed.

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Chris Casteel began working for The Oklahoman's Norman bureau in 1982 while a student at the University of Oklahoma. After covering the police beat, federal courts and the state Legislature in Oklahoma City, he moved to Washington in 1990, where...